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ASEAN HIVE COMMUNITY

When one nationality becomes too much of the expat mix

@gooddream@gooddream (84)1d

DISCLAIMER: I have no problem with any particular nationality. I like people from everywhere. My way of living is that if you are cool to me, I will be cool to you...it's pretty simple. What I am about to write has nothing to do with anything political or stupid shit like that. It is merely an observation from the standpoint of someone that has spent more than 20 years being an expat in various places.

Too much of any nationality changes a foreign area for the worse

This is just a fact and for my current example I am going to be primarily referencing the local population here in Da Nang and how it has changed since I moved here from about 5% Russian in the expat mix, to more than 50% Russian.

This has resulted in the expat "scene" if you will, changing in a way that is for the worse for everyone (other than perhaps the Russians.) To the other 50% this is not a good thing at all and it wasn't always this way.

I have seen this phenomenon in other parts of the world such as the expat mix being primarily Swedish in Ko Lanta, Thailand and there being "too many" Americans and Canadians in parts of Mexico.

When this happens, the local area changes to accommodate them exclusively and in some crazy examples in certain communities in Mexico the area stops being Mexico and is kind of like America Jr.

But let's stay focused on Da Nang, Vietnam for now and how the Russian expat population is so overwhelming that for anyone that is not Russian, life has actually become more complicated.

image.png [src](https://statics.vinpearl.com/Weather-in-Da-Nang_1737535525.jpg)

When I first moved here in 2020, I barely knew or ever even saw a Russian. Fast forward to now and every time I take my dog for a walk I would say that almost all of the other foreigners that I encounter are Russian. I can tell because although I do not speak the language, I know it when I hear it.

The "problem" with Russian expats is that generally speaking, they do not possess the language skills to integrate into a expat community. When they represent a small portion of the overall expat mix, there is a great deal of effort on their part to integrate into the society including speaking some language other than Russian. Once they constitute a large percentage of the overall expat mix, there is no incentive to learn any other language anymore and therefore, they don't do it.

Again, I am not speaking for all Russians and I am 0% Russian myself, this is just an observation from my time here. When I walk my dog, people will approach me. Many of them are Russians and I am a friendly guy so I try to spark up a conversation. When the expats are Russian, we cannot get very far in the conversation because they do not know English.

Now I know that I have been truly blessed that English just happens to be the default travel language of the world. I am not trying to make some sort of "high horse" judgement here. If I was a Russian I would probably seek out other Russians as well so there is no judgement from me here. I am not saying they are wrong to do this and I think everyone would do it this way if left to their own devices.

I do know that when I lived in both Chiang Mai and Krabi, Thailand, there was a big mix of nationalities with none of them dominating the overall percentage mix. Because of this people tended to hang out with all nationalities and while I was fortunate because the default language was English, I think the necessity of finding a common ground / language created a much more hospitable environment. With the Russians becoming so much of the overall mix, there are places that have sprung up that cater exclusively to Russians and have Russian menus and sometimes no other languages. I do not integrate with these people and they do not integrate with me. I don't think there is anything personal going on here, people just seek out the path of least resistance in life, generally speaking.

This isn't really a good thing though because part of the real fun of living in an expat community is meeting people from other cultures and trading stories about your life with them. This is no longer happening in Da Nang because virtually everyone, especially in the area that I live in, is Russian.

Some days I will decide to say hello to everyone I encounter on the street and often if they are Russian they don't even say anything back to me and it kind of makes me feel like I am being creepy if the people are women lol.

Now I am not singling out Russians here, that just happens to be the case where I am. There is a beach area south of here called Nha Trang that was well-known as being the "Russian beach area" and it wasn't very friendly to anyone that was not Russian. Virtually everyone I know that visits there says they will not go back. The same was true for a time in the island of Koh Lanta in Thailand where the Swedish kind of claimed it as their own and even opened their own Swedish language schools. I will say this: Virtually every Swedish person speaks English so this was not as negative of a situation as it has been with the Russians in cities in Vietnam. There are also several cities in Mexico that I have been to where the Canadian/USA expat population is so dominant that the area can be downright hostile to anyone that isn't a part of this culture. The Russians are kind of doing the same thing in Da Nang and I wish it wasn't like this because I would genuinely like to have more Russian friends.

I don't know why this is the case, but of all the expats that I have met in 20 years, Russians tend to have some of the lowest language skills of any nationality.

There is nothing that we can do to change this situation and I do not seek to do so. I will be kind to everyone that is kind to me but I do find it regrettable that of all the expat areas that I have lived in my life this one is probably the most difficult to meet other expats in and it is primarily because of this one reason.

Once again please know that I am not trying to be negative towards Russians. I like all people. I am just suggesting that an expat community isn't as nice anymore when one particular nationality dominates the overall mix of people.

If you have any thoughts I would like to hear them. Just be nice :)

Comments · 6

  • @chaingmai.hhh(77)· 1h

    We have very few Russians here in Chiang Mai at all. Years ago, it seemed as though the nationality was coming in massive amounts but then I don't know what happened. Maybe they lost visa privileges and Vietnam had good options available to them. I almost never hear about any Russians being here. I'm sure there are some, I've just never met them.

    Chiang Mai I would say has a really good mix of nationalities with the top ones (by numbers) probably being American, English, and Australian

  • @cryptoandcoffee(85)· 9h

    I can relate with this is the obvious is there is going to be no thought of integration and why the migrants or illegals in Europe are there to grow their community at the expense of everyone else. The thought of learning the local language is not necessary because they have their own people in sufficient numbers.

  • @bozz(83)· 14h

    That's too bad that it has to be like that. I know it is a stereotype ,but I would assume that people from that particular area are brusque in general. That's probably tainted by growing up in the US in the 80's though.

  • @erikah(83)· 14h

    This is not happening just in your city. There are countries where entire villages are populated by immigrants from the same countries and even the maior is one of them. Spain is a good example.

    What I don't understand is how can you live in a foreign country and not want to learn at least the street language, to be able to communicate at the store or with the government offices. If not, at least learn a few words of English.

    Speaking of English, is it difficult to say hello back to someone on the street? I suppose it's a question of manners and education.

    What is even worse, these people are never going get a job as how can they. and to spin it further, think about their kids. How they are going to grow up? What they are going to learn?

  • @susmi(42)· 19h

    This is a fair and careful look at a real shift. The language point rings true, because once one group is large enough not to need the shared language, the mix quietly changes. I liked the Ko Lanta comparison too. Da Nang still sounds like a good place to live, just a different one from the city you first met.

  • @kellyane(73)· 1d

    It's really difficult to communicate when you don't speak the same language. Maybe that's also one of the reasons why some Russians seem less friendly toward foreigners, especially when they don't understand English. This is one of the challenges of knowing only one language, particularly when that language isn't commonly spoken in the countries you visit. It can make it harder to communicate, connect, and get along with other people.